Caselet $3\mathrm{.}2$: The Newbie

By Julie Walker, Sales Liaison, WeInfuse

When Julie Walker graduated from college, she became a salesperson for e$-$Rewards, a company that sells access to groups of people for marketing research purposes. The people surveyed receive rewards for participating in research studies $($hence$,$ the company's name$),$ and Julie's clients, who conduct the research, gain access to people they ordinarily might not.

But now it's Julie's turn to be a manager. She has assembled her own sales team. She wanted a faster start, everyone seems to have adjusted, and sales are trending upward. Consequently, Julie was surprised when she got a visit from another new manager, Marty, who joined e$-$Rewards at the same time she did. Marty and Julie had both been promoted at the same time as well.

Marty asked Julie if she was struggling with her salespeople asking the same questions over and over. As a young company serving new markets, there wasn't a lot of training material Julie or Marty could point their salespeople to$.$

"I did," Julie replied. "But you know, I asked a lot of questions in my first year working for Emily. When I would ask Emily the same question or one that we had discussed before, she always turned the question around on me and had me go find the answer myself. This turned out to be a very effective way of learning for me as it forced me to grasp the concepts of healthcare market research and how our company fit into the industry," Julie explained. $"$As a result, I became a subject matter expert, and that enabled me to speak confidently about our products and services when selling to potential clients. So yes, I do get the questions, but the second time over, I have my salespeople go figure it out."

Marty nodded. "That makes sense. So$,$ to get the information they need, they have to talk to others in the company, right?"

"That's right," said Julie. "And that makes a lot of things work more smoothly."

"Good, that will get them off my back," Marty replied. Julie frowned.

QUESTIONS

Getting Marty's salespeople off his back wasn't part of Julie's objectives. What were her objective$($s$)?$ Why are they important?

What other practices can Julie and Marty undertake to accomplish the same objective$($s$)?$

What was it about Emily's preparation of Julie that made her a proficient sales manager?

As a "newbie" salesperson, what lessons could you learn from Marty and Julie's conversation?